(Closed) Catering “off site” question

We’re just in the "brainstorming ideas" part of planning. However, there’s a chance that my boss will buy a building in the next year or so and she said we can use the upstairs floor for a wedding. Great! But, it just occurred to me- how would we get nice food without cooking facilities, in downtown Buffalo, NY (not like NYC, but still crowded buildings 🙂 ) in December? (this building would be next door to a Hyatt if that has any potential)

So, my question is, how do caterers work? I’m sure I’m not the first bride in this situation. Would they set up grills (I know nothing of fire laws) in the back? Pre-cook everything and heat it up (potentially yucky)? Or this is impossible…?

I just don’t want to get excited and then realized I sacrificed food in order to get a perfect situation with the decorating! 🙂

I am getting married in NYC and having off site caterering. Typically caterers will have mobile kitchen set ups that allow them to cook off site – you may have to call around but I think you should be able to find a few options in the Buffalo area. Hopefully that helps!

Convection oven. Our (off-site) caterer did partial cooking ahead of time (i.e. cooked the meats, etc.) and then warmed or cooked the rest on-site (sauces, etc.) using a convection oven (she rented it from the same place she got all the rest of the equipment we had brought it — tables, chairs, etc. and was included in our total bill). It went great! The food was delish, and just the right temp. Those things are f’in amazing! They can also probably use those little gas stovetops that are used in omelette stations w/o violating fire code. A good caterer and/or event planner in your area should be able to handle it.

Our venue has a non-working kitchen. Pretty much, its just a shell of a kitchen.. Our caterer has to bring all the equipment in. It may seem like a big deal but that is what caterers do…if you hire a reputable vendor and do a walk through with them they will be able to work out what they need to bring.

One thing to check on would be power supply….you may need to rent a generator if the building doesnt have enough to support all the equipment.

Hey, I went back and checked our price list, and the oven the caterer rented for us was $200 for the night, and $130 for the generator to run it, and a bunch of other stuff that needed to be powered. Just so you have some idea of what you’re getting into. Here’s the oven: